My Propeller: SKYDRIFT Announced

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Digital Reality, who Wikipedia assures me is the oldest Hungarian “video game developer company” in existence, has gone and announced SKYDRIFT, a download-only racing game that looks a bit like Crimson Skies crossed with Playstation high-speed headtrip Wipeout. Why do I feel the need to make all these comparisons? I suppose it’s so my brain doesn’t drown in all these games, each of which is secretly as unique and beautiful as a snowflake. Trailer and press release (“spectacular and exotic locations,” “extreme maneuvers,” “aircrafts”!) after the jump.
Missiles! Big rocks! Guitar! Hey, this actually looks quite good.

Gain advantage using 6 different types of offensive and defensive power-ups and survive the infinite variety of extreme maneuvers often dangerously close to the ground.

Admire the amazingly detailed dynamic terrains and incredible vistas, from a desert canyon to a tropical island to arctic glaciers based on the most spectacular and exotic locations all over the planet. The breathtaking landscape includes monumental rocks, volcanic lava flows, scenic rivers and ice fields that provide a memorable experience in incredible graphics rarely seen in digital-only titles.

Unlock all 8 modern, state-of-the-art aircrafts tuned to the max. Personalize them with over 30 unique racing skins from military camouflage war paint for hiding, to the most shiny and colorful ones for domination.

They had the arcade machine of that in the Student Union when I was at Uni. Many a drunk evening (and pound coin) were spent on that one. The two throttle control was brilliant.
Of course the only race worth playing was the Tatooine one, the others just weren’t as well made.

Republic Commando is a rough little fresh gem in a sea of FPS’s that try really hard to be realistic and/or grimdark. You can find it either on Steam, in a brick’n’mortar shop with a PC section, or on Amazon as part of a 5 game LucasArts “Best of PC” collection. It doesn’t have any real DRM built in other than CD Key and CD Check. The things that make it stand out from other Star Wars/LucasArts titles of the era were its sound design, music, voice acting, solid squad command mechanics, and being a tangential deviation from all the Jedi lightsaber wank of the time.

Check it out, it’s a fun little game that admittedly ends too quickly, but it’s proof that there were some Star Wars games of that time period that didn’t suck.

I’d rather have them make a REAL Crimson Skies. ):
Dogfighter didn’t feel good at all. It may look a little bit nice but it just doesn’t feel right.
And Skydrift looks more like Dogfighter than Crimson Skies.

This looks like exactly the type of game I was looking for to rekindle our LAN parties, which devolved into endless minecraft and Company of Heroes games. Thanks RPS! (Also, once again, you have managed to render promise to myself that my free time would be dedicated to assembling a portfolio for a graphic design degree null and void.)

Wipeout HDs (not unexpected) failure to even glance at the PC, as though we are a particularly unpleasant and desperate looking beggar, led me to the closest point I’ve come to considering the purchase of a console since I sold my Saturn. My interest in this is, therefore, very much piqued.

I’m not seeing it myself. I mean, I wouldn’t call it ugly but nor would I remark upon its visual splendour. I’m not sure what others – including, apparently, the developers themselves – are seeing that I’m not.

Detailed, bright, saturated graphics without being outright cartoony are a welcome change from grey-brown, grey-brown with neon highlights, and NOLF/Evil Genius/TF2 (even though the latter is also damn pretty). Kind of reminds me of Flatout 2, actually.

Also it looks like the actual game part is quite readable: it’s possible to make out the course, identify the powerup types (admittedly mostly by colour rather than the icon on them), and opponents without these all being buried under ten tons of particle effects and bloom.